Falcon hazard!

August 26th, 2009, 11:57 AM

I was at Lakewood (Seattle) early this AM and had a falcon swoop (not swipe) my drive off 13. Not sure if it was intentional or it was on it's way to grab a wiley crow on an adjacent branch. Pretty cool to see.

There was also a woodpecker trapped in the netted batting cage on 9. It was eventually able to escape after I propped an edge of the netting off the ground.

Picked up a few empties but the course was fairly clean except for the pile at the fence near 10's teepad It's a shame some people can't pack out what they pack in. At least put it in one of the g-cans.

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I was at Lakewood (Seattle) early this AM and had a falcon swoop (not swipe) my drive off 13. Not sure if it was intentional or it was on it's way to grab a wiley crow on an adjacent branch. Pretty cool to see.

There was also a woodpecker trapped in the netted batting cage on 9. It was eventually able to escape after I propped an edge of the netting off the ground.

Picked up a few empties but the course was fairly clean except for the pile at the fence near 10's teepad It's a shame some people can't pack out what they pack in. At least put it in one of the g-cans.

I really hope this park doesn't get closed in 2010.

I've noticed that falcon on 13 as well a couple a weeks ago, must have found some food in the trees above, falcons are some of the fastest birds on the planet and I am quite fascinated with them. Thank you for freeing that woodpecker Tad, like Treelove said there is good karma for you. Yeah and if Lakewood was no more I would cry.

Sometimes my mind boggles. It's so deep my mind actually boggles.

~ Cyndi Lauper ~

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Raptors (aka; birsd of prey) are really cool. My work is in the middle of weat feilds (which are great for practicing long drives) and there are hawks, eagles, and all mannor of raptors riding air currents looking for mice and other small animals. I am guessing that bird thought your disc was food or another bird trying to take over the area. Really cool.

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The only true falcons I've seen here are the kestrels. While really beautiful, they don't seem to disc. We have the occasional eagle, resident red tails, varied hawks passing through, and once, I even saw an osprey dive into the pond, though, to my disappointment, it didn't retrieve a disc. If any bird here takes up the disc, I think it would be the raven.

The Corporate Empire is NOT a Constitutional Republic...
...but it plays one on TV.

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I'm guessing that what you saw was a Cooper's Hawk, an Accipiter that flies through the tree canopy picking off smaller birds to feast on. I see them at Lakewood often, in fact a week or two ago I saw one land in the tall fir tree halfway down the hole 13 fairway where it was being harassed by a pair of Hummingbirds of all things. Those piles of feathers you come across in the park are likely the remains of these hawks recent meals. If you see a group of crows making a ruckus and diving at a something, look around and see if there's a Hawk or an Owl hanging around! There are a lot of cool birds to be seen at the Lakewood course.

As far as falcons go, I do occasionally see a Peregrine hunting as I cross over the 1st Ave Bridge on my way to Lakewood. Plenty of Pigeons to plunder there.

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That's really cool to pick up all that trash. I have started to pick up trash I see such as beer cans, pop bottles, empty packs of cigs, ect. But what really gets me is there are garbage cans at every tee pad!

The only true falcons I've seen here are the kestrels. While really beautiful, they don't seem to disc. We have the occasional eagle, resident red tails, varied hawks passing through, and once, I even saw an osprey dive into the pond, though, to my disappointment, it didn't retrieve a disc. If any bird here takes up the disc, I think it would be the raven.

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I had the Battle of the Chicken Yard with a coopers hawk once. Sadly, I won. The hawk would come in, zig-zagging under the canopy, like Eric said, picking off our young chickens. I can't believe I actually got it with a .22. If I ever have chickens again, they will have netting over them. Though it was over 40 years ago, shooting that raptor was hard on my spirit.

The Corporate Empire is NOT a Constitutional Republic...
...but it plays one on TV.

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Here's a picture I took of a barred owl up at Lake Fenwick park - it couldn't care less that I was shooting pictures from 15 feet away.

Too bad these owls are running the spotted owls out of territory...

What a great picture.

Many owls are diurnal; active for a few hours each in the morning and evening. Owls tend to be very quite overall and have excellent camoflauge. There's a good chance you're being watched more than you think!

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Here's a picture I took of a barred owl up at Lake Fenwick park - it couldn't care less that I was shooting pictures from 15 feet away.

Too bad these owls are running the spotted owls out of territory...

Many Native American cultures believe the owl is a harbinger of death. I know manyto this day that belive seeing and hearing one is a bad omen. infact at my work it was asked that people not have pictures of owls on thier desk tops.

Many Native American cultures believe the owl is a harbinger of death. I know manyto this day that belive seeing and hearing one is a bad omen. infact at my work it was asked that people not have pictures of owls on thier desk tops.

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Last night at Rooster I had to jump and yell at this doe or I was going to get knocked down the hill on the East 9...

Over crowding??? I know in my area, because of the long spring, the deer population exploded and because the deer population exploded the predator population exploded. The cougar population in the Umatilla NF was about one cougar for ever three square miles. That's a lot of cat in a small area. Their normal population is about one for every 20 sq miles.